Meghan Markle's & Cardi B's Fashion Styles Were Some Of The Biggest Influences In 2018

It's no secret that social media has hugely impacted the fashion industry, from the way we shop to the way we discover and follow trends, and more. According to Poshmark's new Social Commerce report, Meghan Markle's and Cardi B's fashion styles were some of the most influential forces in fashion in 2018, which one can assume is largely thanks to social media. How often did you see Cardi B rocking and promoting Fashion Nova on her personal channels? How many times a week would Markle come up in your feed, with her entire outfit dissected and priced out piece by piece? These women ruled the year, and now we know just how impactful their sartorial choices really are.

Poshmark is a community made up of 40 million-plus people and serves as a platform where you can re-sell wardrobe items you no longer want and shop those that others have posted. On the app, users can also engage with one another, track when offerings from their favorite brands are posted, see which types of items are trending, and more. Poshmark can then use this data to glean important information about the current shopping landscape—this is where the numbers for their Social Commerce report, which you can view here, are taken from. "Drawn from millions of interactions and transactions on Poshmark’s platform, this report shows the hottest products and brands on the platform, and the celebrity influencers that inspired mass purchasing," explained the brand in a press release.

Two of those celebrity influencers are, as you might have guessed, Cardi B and Meghan Markle.

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According to the report, "Purchases of Fashion Nova are up 210% following Cardi B’s partnership with the online brand." If you've been reading pretty much any fashion-focused publication as of late this might not come as a surprise to you. The retailer's buzzy rise to popularity undoubtedly has their celebrity ambassadors including Kylie Jenner and Cardi B to thank, and when the collection that Cardi designed in collaboration with Fashion Nova was released it sold out within hours. She has a second collaboration coming up and I wouldn't be surprised if it does the same. Still, the fact that the rapper's involvement with the brand contributed to a doubling of its sales is incredibly impressive and proves that for many, runways and magazines aren't where style inspiration is drawn from. For the masses who can't afford designer, AKA the majority of America, celebrities and influencers are where we look.

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Markle, on the other hand, also contributed to a brand's increased sales, but this label was decidedly more high brow. "Aquazzura heels increased 150 percent after making their Duchess debut," reveals the report. Markle is known for wearing the brand's pointy-toed pumps and while they certainly are not cheap (one pair the Duchess has worn retails for $750!) many fans go absolutely nuts over royal style and would go to great lengths (or costs) to emanate it.

The takeaway? Celebrity power in terms of marketing and sales is paramount. There's no doubt we'll see brands continuing to utilize it.